Long time, no post :)

[Astronut]

Hi all, how's it going? I haven't been around for a while but I've been lurking from time to time. I've been working my butt off and have been dog-tired on the odd weekday I've been home and at weekends.

My enthusiasm for practical astro was slowly dying off due to the horrible UK weather and the limited weekend only chances of observing opportunities.

I was almost contemplating selling my sadly unused 12" Skywatcher dob to a good home. I had a chance to use it briefly once last October - there was a gibbous moon and high mist - and quickly decided that the supplied plossls were average and adequate-ish but not kick-ass so planned to spend some cash after Chrimbo. One of my main concerns was I was getting a short line from a star if I defocussed slightly in-focus then another short line perpendicular to the first when de-focussing slightly outwards - an eyepiece aberration or so I thought.

Anyway, I've gone and done it and ordered a Pentax XW 30mm from Green Witch last weekend (1st weekend Feb). I was originally planning to buy from Steve at FLO but he's no longer stocking them due to frustrating supply difficulties (sorry Steve). I really expected I'd be waiting a while but it arrived during last week and a neighbour signed for it. I got it from him on Friday when I got home for the weekend.

Now it usually transpires that new gear = cloudy skies for the foreseeable future (it certainly did with 'scope) but lo and behold Saturday was clear :hello1:

I put the 'scope in the unheated porch outside the kitchen to cool down and checked the forecast (partly cloudy but clearing later with early morning fog) - that'll do me I thought

I was out for around a couple of hours checking out the new eyepiece and called it a night and brought the 'scope inside when more high cloud came in and the neighbours kitchen and bathroom lights going on and off had finally put paid to my patience. After midnight I looked out and it was completely clear of high cloud and the neighbours were tucked up in bed with their lights finally off for the night (bonus) so out I went again.

I saw loads of stuff, some objects I'd never seen before. M81 and 82 (nicely framed in the Pentax), M51 (little disappointed I couldn't make out the spiral arms and my thoughts were an LP filter is needed), M37 (lovely cluster), M38, M39, M44, M35, M42 (bit low down and again my thoughts were on an LP filter), the Leo triplet (couldn't make out the faint edge on galaxy, again an LP filter might help), M97, M108, the double cluster, M64, M13 (bit low and not at its best), M92, M3, etc, etc. I had a look at Saturn too - tiny, as expected and somewhat lost in the wide field but it was very bright - I had tiny saturn shaped spots in my eye after staring at it for a few minutes

The Pentax is just brilliant. It gives me a mag of X50 with a 1.4 degree FOV. As soon as I lifted it out of the box I could tell it was a quality piece of engineering. It's a really solid beast and is quite heavy. The eye lens is huge and the adjustable helical eyeguard feels very smooth to turn. It has a whopping 20mm eye relief but it seems like more to me. I like to observe without my glasses (short sighted) so I have the eyeguard in the full out position. I tried it with my glasses (eyeguard fully in) and could still see the full field and the eye lens was well clear of my glasses. Needless to say it's a very comfortable eyepiece to use and there doesn't seem to be any pincushioning or kidney beaning that I can detect. The image is nice and bright across the whole field and there's no false tint detectable. I've heard that some Televue eyepieces can give a slightly yellow tint to the view but I can't comment on the truth or otherwise of this. The Pentax gives a nice neutral natural looking image to my eye. I'm well pleased with it There's some slight field curvature noticeable at the edge of field but I put that down to the f/5 mirror - a Paracorr may sort that out. I'm not worried at all about that though as the view is very immersive.

Anyways, my ehthusiasm has been restoked and after looking at Astronomik filters I've been on the phone to Green Witch today. I was torn between the CLS and the UHC but after talking to the extremely helpful guy on the phone I've decided to plump for the UHC. I mentioned the short lines on defocussing a star to him (see above) and that I was getting the same effect with the Pentax - he said it was probably diffraction spikes from the secondary vanes (one pair on one side of focus, the other pair on the other side) and collimation could be slightly out so I'm not too worried about it now - the only sure-fire way to get collimation bang-on is a star test with a high power eyepiece. That'll have to wait until I can get hold of a high power eyepiece.

Back to the filters - the UHC has a narrower bandwidth than the CLS and will probably be more helpful for nebulae like the Veil and the California, etc. I was initially concerned about the extra light loss the UHC would give me over the CLS but the 12" mirror should be able to handle it. I'm about to order the 2" version and will have a think about adapting it for 1.25" eyepieces later.

I'm really really tempted to cough up for one of those Televue 13mm Ethos eyepieces I've been reading so much good things about but I may just get more Pentaxes. A 10mm XW and a 3.5mm XW would be nice or maybe I should get an Ethos and a 3-6mm Televue click zoom. Decisions, decisions The pension top-up plan can wait.

There's a star party in April at the Astronomy Centre between Bacup and Todmorden coming up too so I'm hoping to get all the above kit and maybe more before then

Fingers crossed for clear dark skies on the day.

Things are finally looking up :wave:

(omg, what a long post, sorry)

[barkis]

Well, that was an interesing summary of your recent life Astronut.

I don't think there are many amateurs who haven't been where you have been regarding the urge to quit it all, for more or less the same reasons as yourself. I am pleased common sense has prevailed though.You would certainly miss it, and the selling of your Skywatcher would be comparable to losing a good friend. I am delighted you are back, and posting again.

Once you have gathered in all the quality gear you want, including any enhancement filters for nebs etc. you will remember the dark days when you contemplated packing it all in, and feel very happy you didn't.

If ever you feel despondent again, just pop a post on SGL, and have a crack about it all. The best antidote to blacked out astronomy, is talking about astronomy. It works mate.

Just keep posting now you are back.

Cheers.

Ron.